The Puritan Twins | Page 6

Captain's red face turned a deeper shade, and he fidgeted with
embarrassment, as he took her hand in his great red paw, then dropped
it suddenly as if it were hot. "Oh, stow it, ma'am, stow it," he begged.
"That is, I mean to say--why, by jolly, ma'am, a pirate could do no less
when he see a fine bit of cargo like that going to the bottom!"
To the Captain's great relief the lobsters at this moment created a
diversion. He had dropped them on the hearth when he came in, and
they were now clattering briskly about the room, butting into anything
that came in their way in an effort to escape. He made a sudden dash
after them and held them out toward Goodwife Pepperell.
"Here they be, ma'am," he said. "I 'd saved them for my supper, and I 'd
take it kindly if ye 'd cook them for me, and help eat them, too. It 's
raining cats and dogs, and if I was to start out now, I 'd have a hard
time finding the Lucy Ann. Ye can't see a rod ahead of ye in such a
downpour."

"We shall be glad to have thee stay as long as thou wilt," said the
Goodwife heartily. "Put the lobsters in this while I set the kettle to
boil." She held out a wooden puncheon as she spoke, and the Captain
dropped them in. Then he sat down with Goodman Pepperell on the
settle beside the fireplace, and the two men talked of their boyhood in
England, while she hung the kettle on the crane over the fire and began
to prepare the evening meal.
"Daniel, sit thee down by the fire and get a good bed of coals ready
while I mix the johnny-cake," she said as she stepped briskly about the
room, and Daniel, nothing loath, drew a stool to the Captain's side and
fed the fire with chips and corn-cobs while he listened with all his ears
to the talk of the two men.
[Illustration]
"Well, Thomas, how hast thou prospered since I saw thee last?" asked
Goodman Pepperell.
"Tolerable, tolerable, Josiah," answered the Captain. "I 've been mining
for sea gold." Daniel wondered what in the world sea gold might be.
"Ye see," he went on, turning to include Daniel in the conversation,
"my father was a sea captain before me, and my gran'ther too. Why, my
gran'ther helped send the Spanish Armada to the bottom where it
belonged. Many and many 's the time I 've heard him tell about it, and I
judge from what he said he must have done most of the job himself,
though I reckon old Cap'n Drake may have helped some." (Here the
Captain chuckled.) "He never came back from his last
voyage,--overhauled by pirates more 'n likely. That was twenty years
ago, and I 've been following the sea myself ever since. I was wrecked
off the Spanish Main on my first voyage, and I 've run afoul of pirates
and come near walking the plank more times than one, I 'm telling ye,
but somehow I always had the luck to get away! And here I be, safe
and sound."
At this point the lobsters made a commotion in the wooden puncheon,
and the Captain turned his attention to them. "Jest spilin' to get out, ain't
ye?" he inquired genially. "Look here, boy," to Daniel, "that water's

bilin'. Heave 'em in."
Daniel held his squirming victims over the pot, and not without a
qualm of pity dropped them into the boiling water. Then he ventured to
ask a question. "What is sea gold, Captain Sanders?"
"Things like them," answered the Captain, jerking his thumb at the
lobsters, which were already beginning to turn a beautiful red color as
they boiled in the pot; "as good gold as any that was ever dug out of
mines ye can get for fish, and there never was such fishing in all the
seas as there is along this coast! My! my! I 've seen schools of cod off
the Cape making a solid floor of fish on the water so ye could walk on
it if ye were so minded, and as for lobsters, I 've caught 'em that
measured six and seven feet long! Farther down the coast there are
oysters so big one of 'em will make a square meal for four or five
people. It 's the truth I 'm telling ye."
Goodman Pepperell smiled. "Thomas," he said, "thou hast not lost thy
power of narration!"
Captain Sanders for an instant looked a bit dashed, then he said, "Well,
believe it or not, Josiah, it 's the truth for all that. Why, talk about the
land of Canaan flowin' with milk and honey! This